Effect of two different organic solvents on mechanical properties and electrical conductivity of carbonized wood fiber filled chitosan/polyethylene oxide conductive films
Journal
AIP Conference Proceedings
ISSN
0094243X
Date Issued
2022-05-18
Author(s)
Zainal M.I.
Kumar N.K.
Uthaipan N.
DOI
10.1063/5.0090703
Abstract
Crystallization occurred upon the evaporation of solvent during solution casting usually affects the physical and chemical properties of the polymers. In this study, the effect of maleic acid (MA) and acetic acid (AA) as a solvent medium to dissolve conductive chitosan/polyethylene oxide/carbonized wood fiber (CS/PEO/CWF) film was investigated on their mechanical properties and electrical conductivity. The film with CS/PEO ratio of 70/30 and 25 wt% of CWF was prepared by dissolution in organic acid and casting into glass mold after sufficient stirring at room temperature. FTIR spectra revealed that the characteristic peaks of CS for CS/PEO/CWF-AA can be clearly understood while for CS/PEO/CWF-MA, the peaks were shifted, and some were less pronounced due to overlapping with MA residue peaks. The tensile test showed that CS/PEO/CWF-AA has better tensile strength, elongation at break and tensile modulus. We suggested that a higher crystallinity degree of CS/PEO/CWF-AA was responsible for the excellent properties. The presence of residual maleic acids after film-forming increases the brittleness of the films and lowers the tensile strength of CS/PEO/CWF-MA film. The conductivity value also favored CS/PEO/CWF-AA with the conductivity of 4.25 × 10-4 S/cm while the value for CS/PEO/CWF-MA was one order magnitude lower which is 3.46 × 10-5 S/cm. From the findings, we concluded that CS/PEO/CWF-AA formed crystalline orientation upon evaporation of AA and that promotes electron transfer resulting in higher conductivity. In conclusion, AA is a better solvent medium compared to MA for dissolution of CS/PEO/CWF to obtain conductive composite films. The difference in the structure of the organic acids has obviously affected the properties of the composite films. The conductive films have potential use as an eco-friendly material for active or intelligent packaging as well as biomedical applications.
File(s)